Cross vine is another woody, semi-evergreen climber
producing large trumpet-shaped flowers mostly orange to red
on the outside, yellow inside that have a mocha fragrance.
The flowers almost cover the plant in the spring and persist
until July, and hummingbirds love them. Many people believe
the name refers to the way the opposite leaves attach to the
twig but the name comes from the fact that a cross pattern
is seen what you cut the stem in half. Cherokee and other
Native Americans used the leaves as blood purifiers and for
rheumatism, and they used the bark to treat headaches. Rural
people boiled the cropped vines in recipes with sassafras and
other herbs to make a beer to address a number of ailments
from syphilis to rheumatism.
A harbinger of spring, one of the “most beautiful vines
in the South,” is yellow (or Carolina) jessamine, adopted
26
as South Carolina’s state flower in 1924. Yellow jessamine
produces clusters of golden yellow, fragrant, trumpet-shaped
blooms from February to early May. Driving onto Kiawah
in the spring you can see it in full bloom on the sides of the
Parkway. This woody evergreen vine can blanket shrubs,
pines, and hardwoods and can even form mats on the ground
when no support is found. Despite its beautiful flowers
and intoxicating fragrance, all parts of this plant are highly
poisonous. They contain strychnine-related alkaloids, and
ingesting even a small amount can be fatal. The sap of the
plant may cause dermatitis in some individuals. Deer and
other wildlife avoid it. Although the nectar is toxic to honey
bees and most other insects, some bumblebees and a few
butterflies are pollinators.
Naturally Kiawah